DIY book subscription gift, would you be happy with these choices?

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Mum's birthday is coming up and me and my sister thought to get her a book subscription gift. But then we thought maybe doing it ourselves would be safer. We'll do 3 each, alternating months and stick in something like new socks / fancy chocolate or teabags with it.
We are going with women authors.

Now I am feeling the responsibility to get it right!

Sister is kicking off with The Doll Factory, by Elizabeth Macneal, which I've not read.

Mum is arty, likes gardens, William Morris and Sewing Bee. Also music, Rock and Roll type, Soap Operas and ongoing multi part dramas. She likes books that aren't too grim or full of sex, like Alexander McCall Smith and Little Women but is into politics so can handle Ken Loach / early Roddy Doyle type reality. I think she is pleased to have read books some she didn't wholey enjoy too, like Engleby and Secret History. She's read or owns most classics. She really appreciates good children's books and their illustrations. She's more Winne The Pooh than Harry Potter.

I'm thinking

• Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie B King
• Good People by Hannah Kent
• Either Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd or Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane.

Do they sound ok?

I have toyed with Old Baggage by Lissa Evans but don't think Crooked Heart went down that well, and I loved Where The Crawdads.. but sister didn't and I know it splits opinion so probably not a safe bet.

None fiction has been considered- I have given her Invisible Women after she asked for it, so maybe Mother Of Invention but I haven't read it yet to gauge.

If you have made it this far, thanks!

How about Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri? Or for non fiction, Educated by Tara Westover.

Cazalets or Mary Wesley for non-fiction? My mum loved Life After Life and Any Human Heart as well (as did I - I bought them for her!).

Or the Boy, the Mole, the Fox & the Horse (illustrations)?

Have to admit not read many of your choices, but you have, and you know your mum best :)

Oh Lord, and of course My Brilliant Friend (or the whole Neopolitan quartet).

If she likes McCall Smith, then Simon Brett either the Fethering series or the Mrs Pargeter series.

Mary Wesley is good idea by PP. Perhaps Rafaella Barker? Hens Dancing is good.

Has she read Roddy Doyle's The Deportees and other stories?

The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift?

Frankly I'd rather have a subscription from a really good bookshop. It might include newsletters, alerts to about to be published books, an online community, whatever.

And the throwing in of socks and teabags seems (forgive me,) so demeaning! Those are not birthday treats - they imply that you don't think she's capable of providing such basic things for herself.

Apologies if unhelpful.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. We are going with female authors so those I will check out thanks. A couple are actually already on my to read pile.
Interesting view on the add ons. We stole the idea from subscription schemes we saw and thought it best to choose our own. She's still isolating, since March last year, she might impulse buy "luxury" versions of basics if she saw them while out but wouldn't order them, iyswim.
Online stuff isn't a bonus for mum, she isn't online and won't even learnt to send text messages.

secret life of bees is one if my favourite books. I tried old baggage but couldn't be bothered to finish it.

You could try the lost lights of st kilda by Elisabeth Gifford. ....its set on the now uninhabited Scottish island, just before the islanders were "evacuated " beautifully written.

I think it's lovely and not at all demeaning with the extras!

My ultimate good read recommendation is a wonderfully funny, charming and criminally overlooked Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson, republished by the very excellent Persephone Press. Originally published 1938.

A destitute governess is sent to the wrong address - that of a glamorous young woman juggling numerous men. Beautiful 1930s style illustrations, misunderstandings and witticisms, and it all works out beautifully in the end.

Everyone I’ve recommended it to has enjoyed it. It’s a gem of a book.

Oh yes, Persephone is an excellent source of good reading. One of theirs:

'Little Boy Lost' - Marghanita Laski, is staggeringly, gobsmackingly brilliant.

Elsewhere, I'd suggest

'The Corner That Held Them' by Sylvia Townsend

And

'The Last Samurai' by Helen DeWitt

• both utterly sui generis, making one wonder, almost, why mere men even bother to write books. (Although ... Henry James, Patrick White, one or two others.)

Also, I'd say one of the most fertile grounds for great female writing right now is plays. From Caryl Churchill 'Escaped Alone' to Jasmine Lee Jones 'Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner', to Suzan-Lori Parks 'Father Comes Home From the Wars' playwriting is really capturing the zeitgeist. Might your mother appreciate the odd play script thrown into the mix?

(Sylvia Townsend Warner ...)

A vote for Secret Life of Bees, thanks! She is keen on Scotland so Lost Lights... might be good.
I love Miss Pettigrew too so have foisted that on her previously.
I don't think she gets on well with plays. I like Persephone books, perhaps though Little Boy Lost looks more my bag than hers if it puts you through it as much as reviews suggest. The Corner that Held Them I can see all three of us liking, thanks.
Mary Wesley I am pretty sure she has read, although not sure which one, but I haven't read any so thanks again.
Morville House looks very promising for Mum. Slowly working through the suggestions...

Your choices sound great. I've not read any of them but want to. Can I subscribe?!

What a great idea OP and I think adding extra little presents would be lovely. I would be delighted if my daughter did that for me.

Can I suggest The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Set in America, the story of two sisters with themes of race, secrets, love, forgiveness, and lots more. An excellent read.

Also Gillespie and I or The Observations by Jane Harris. The first is set in Victorian Glasgow if that appeals. Both are intriguing and very readable.

Lovely idea OP to give a truly personalised gift.

If your DM liked the Alexander McCall Smith 'No1 Detective Agency' series, she may like the 'Crown Colony' series by Ovidia Yu (starts with The Frangipane Mystery) set in 1930s Singapore.

There are a few online bakeries and shops that sell Malaysian and Singaporean treats (like delicious chiffon pandan cake and kaya coconut spread) which might make a nice combination, or just even the ingredients/pre-mix for a fancy Singapore Sling or G&T!

Such good advice here. Warmly second Last Samurai and Mrs Pettigrew. My suggestions are The Essex Serpent and more or less anything by Barbara Kingsolver or Ann Patchett.

Ah ... now, SnoopsCaliforniaRoll's suggestion of matching the sundry not-book extra gifts to the theme of that month's book lifts the idea to a whole other level.

'Actress' by Ann Enright, with a link to an online theatre performance. (Or tickets for an open air show, maybe?)

'Beloved' by Toni Morrison, with ... let's see - a mirror, maybe.

'Station Eleven' by Emily St John Mandel, with a replacement pack of face masks. (Or perhaps some really lovely soap!)

'The Mermaid of Black Conch' by Monique Roffey, with some very fancy tinned fish delicacies ...

'To Love and Be Wise' by Josephine Tey, with a silver photograph frame ...

• Old Filth

• The first book of the Cazalet Chronicles

How old is your Mum? I'm getting to the age where sometimes people's Mums are quite close to my age (50s) whereas I think about my own Mum (70s).

Old Baggage is an excellent suggestion. I loved it and it seems far less divisive than Crooked Heart (which I've not read).

The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson is pretty popular so might be an option. Or to go for something older Barbara Pym has lots of fans, or EM Delafield.

Recent books I've read that really stand out include The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey, a modern day myth, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about the Biafran War, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, a fantastic coming of age novel that has lots of say about colonialism and sexism.

Something in translation might be good. I read The Cost of Sugar by Cynthia McLeod last year about the sugar plantations in Suriname and thought it was fascinating. Or The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa is a dreamlike dystopic novel that is mesmerising.

She's early 70s.
Really appreciate the help everyone.
Also glad this plan will give me time to read in advance (not same copy, I hasten to add!) as quite a few of these I already have and look forward to reading. So good to know they are worth it!

Books that came to mind-

A Single Thread - Tracey Chevalier
Mrs Benson Beetle
Away with the Penguins

Great idea!

Something by Barbara Kingsolver, the manage to blend the natural world with the political, in a way that makes a really interesting read.
My first choice would be The Poisonwood Bible, followed by Flight Behaviour and Prodigal Summer.

This sounds like a lovely present. My suggestions

The Children's Book - AS Byatt
The Long Song - Andrea Levy
Unsheltered - Barbara Kingsolver
Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
Birdcage Walk - Helen Dunmore
Clay - Melissa Harrison

I second Miss Pettigrew lives for a day, and Gillespie and I. I’m in my late 60s and my husband in his early 70s. We both really enjoyed Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. It’s very short, but very entertaining and quirky. It’s become my “recommend to anyone” book, as are all the books by Mary Lawson, especially her latest one A Town called Solace. Gentle but gripping. I don’t know how she manages it.